


Old Habits

by Dream-of-Neverland (Shadow_at_Dawn)



Series: Into the Mindscape (A Small Agere Universe in a Big Big World) [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Age Regression, Agere Janus, Agere Remus, CG Logan, CG Patton, CG Virgil, Familial sides - Freeform, Gen, Janus centric, Kid Janus, Nausea, Non-Sexual Age Regression, Platonic FAMily nonsence, Platonic Sides - Freeform, Sick Fic, Slice of Life is my drug of choice, agere, baby Remus, but I would also die for this version of Remus, cg roman, everyone is sympathetic, everything turns out okay, what a cutie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29946096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_at_Dawn/pseuds/Dream-of-Neverland
Summary: Janus gets sick, and finds himself torn between hiding until it goes away, or accepting help. The mindscape is not what it once was.
Series: Into the Mindscape (A Small Agere Universe in a Big Big World) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202411
Comments: 3
Kudos: 42





	Old Habits

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Sickness, descriptions of overstimulation, nausea, not wanting to eat food due to said nausea, no one actually throws up though, accidental tackle, getting in trouble, small lecture, feeling bad, getting pulled back while in a chair

As soon as Janus woke up, he knew it was going to be a bad day. His mouth curved into a deep frown as he sat there for a moment, staring up at the light gray ceiling above him. Maybe this is what people meant when they said ‘Waking up on the wrong side of the bed.’ Sighing, he tried to push his blankets off only for it to hit him. And by ‘it’ he meant everything. His head pounded, the heat radiating off his body clashed with the cool air around it, and his throat throbbed in pain as he gasped. Huh. So that’s why he was in such a bad mood.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he felt a sudden anger lash through him. He didn’t wanna be sick! He didn’t wanna stay inside his room all day! He wanted to feel better, he wanted to go outside and play with the others, and- Oh. Oh, he had age regressed. Great. Now on top of everything else, he would have to spend the day as a nine year old. Which, honestly, wouldn’t have been half bad most days. But he had told the others he would tell them if he regressed. They had all promised. Old instincts of hiding away clashed with his desire to be with the others, to be taken care of.

Janus groaned again. All this thinking was making his head hurt even more. Twisting around, he slid off his bed and immediately regretted it. He wanted to burrow back under the covers again. He wouldn’t, though.

Thinking for a bit longer, he decided on a compromise. He didn’t have to tell them he was sick (he could take care of that on his own), but he would still tell them that he had regressed. He would still go out.

He didn’t bother to change out of his pajamas. Since he was regressed, the others probably wouldn’t find it weird, and he couldn’t bring himself to get into anything less comfortable. He did, however, make sure to slip on a green bracelet to symbolize to the others that he was regressed.

Opening his door, he stomped out into the hallway and down to the kitchen, growing grumpier the further he walked. The lights were too bright. The hallway smelled weird. The texture of carpet against his feet felt scratchy. Anything and everything was getting on his nerves, and he had worked himself up into quite the mood by the time he got to the kitchen, the smell of breakfast, but the eggs especially, assaulting his nose.

“Morning Janus!” Patton said just a bit too loudly, his smile glaring widely from across the room.

Janus frowned, folded his arms, and marched over to sit in his chair at the table next to Virgil, who was hunched over his morning coffee, nursing it in comfortable silence. He may have to be outside his room today, but he most certainly did not have to enjoy it.

Patton came around and sat at the chair across from Janus’s. “Well someone’s in a mood today.” He teased, smiling softly as he reached out to touch Janus’s arm. Janus pulled away and glared at Patton, who leaned back in his chair, holding his hands up in surrender. “Alright kiddo, no touching today. Gotcha.” Still smiling, Patton quirked his head to the side and continued. “So, how old are you today?”

Maybe if Janus didn’t respond, Patton would leave him alone. But he had no such luck. After about half a minute of uncomfortable silence, Janus finally spat out “I’m not nine.” Why couldn’t Patton just leave him alone?

“Hey.” Virgil interjected firmly, giving Janus a _look_ over his mug. “Try to play nice, Jan.”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk.” Janus muttered, bringing his leg up onto the chair with him and looking off to the side. And before Virgil could respond, a loud voice trumpeted through the air, bursting through the morning calm, not to mention everyone’s eardrums.

“Good MORNING fellow mind palace denizens! Now, what are those absolutely _scrumptious_ things I smell, wafting through the air, giving the kitchen an absolutely heavenly aura?”

It took all of Janus’s self control not to curl up into a ball in response to Roman’s loud proclamations. Patton just giggled and gestured towards the food he had ready on the counter. His head was pounding again, and he could feel himself edging towards tears. But before he could snap at Roman, Virgil beat him to it.

“JESUS princey, do you have an off button?” He said, dramatically moving his hands up to his ears as if checking for blood. “Or at the very least a volume control? _Some_ of us are still waking up.”

“Well, Mr. Short, Snark, and Broody, I’ll have you know that _some_ of us aren’t nocturnal.” Roman shot back, a teasing lilt in his now quieter voice. “Oh and padre,” Roman continued, walking across the kitchen to sit down in his chair with an unnecessary flourish. “Logan said he and Remus will be out in a few minutes. He just needs some extra time to get Remus ready.”

“Oh, so Remus is still regressed then?” Patton said, standing up and grabbing armfuls of food to place on the table.

“Yep.” Roman said, becoming very obviously distracted at the sight of food. “We still have a little devil munchkin on our hands.”

Janus could feel Virgil’s staring at him, and he tried to keep his glaring directed at the table. The more people got that he was in a bad mood and left him alone, the less people would figure out he was sick. So why wasn’t Virgil getting it?

Finally, Roman noticed Janus, and more importantly, the green band around Janus’s wrist. “Oh, and what age might you be, little Kaa?”

Janus knew he needed to get his temper under control, and quickly. A bad mood could be a good deterrent, but too much and he could get in trouble. Another part of him, however, simply didn’t care.

“I already said, I’m _not_ nine.” Janus snapped.

Roman raised an eyebrow at Janus’s words. “Well, careful with the fangs there! You could do some real damage with those, you know.” He said, poking Janus playfully. But instead of smiling or poking him back like he usually would, Janus just huffed, still looking down at the table.

After a moment of silence in which Janus could hear the rustling of cloth and see arms move out of the corners of his eyes, Virgil finally said “He’s just in a mood this morning.” And Janus’s frown twisted into a scowl. Just a mood…

Patton took to humming a simple tune, filling the silence as he placed the last of the food on the table. The conversation started up again as the other sides helped Patton finish setting up, the familiar banter of Roman and Virgil interspersed with commentary and lighter conversation from Patton. Janus took the calm moment to collect himself again. He couldn’t afford to go picking fights. He just needed to make it through breakfast. He could do this.

Logan walked in just as they began to serve themselves, holding Remus up against his hip. Remus looked around the room with bright eyes, still in a onesie and sucking absentmindedly on one of his pacifiers. Janus watched as Patton cooed at the sight and helped Logan get Remus into his high chair, noting that the band on Remus’s wrist that used to be blue was now purple.

Janus needed to eat, but today the thought of food turned his stomach. He could probably comfortably eat a little, but he would have to eat around his normal amount so as to not be suspicious. Finally, Janus reached for his plate only to find it had already been snatched out from under his nose. He looked up in time to see Virgil put the last of the eggs on his now stuffed plate and place it in front of him.

Irritation curled in his chest again, a self-righteous anger that Janus didn’t bother to question. “I totally can’t serve myself.” Janus said, hunching over what seemed like mountains of eggs and bacon and toast. 

“Not if you wait that long you can’t.” Virgil retorted, biting into his toast. Gosh, what was wrong with him today? Janus was beginning to regret not just staying in his room. Out here, it was growing harder and harder not to just snap at everyone and everything.

He bit his lip and turned back to his food. One bite. Then another. Then another. He let himself begin to relax slightly into the conversation around him, mindlessly shoveling the food into his mouth.

Then the intrusive bubbliness of Patton’s voice filled his ears again. “So kiddo, what do you think you’re gonna be up to today? Got any plans?”

Janus had to remind himself to stay calm. It was just Patton. He didn’t mean any harm. “I think I’m gonna go back to bed after breakfast.” Janus said, the words spinning effortlessly from his lips. “Then I’ll probably just hang out. I don’t really have any plans today.”

“Oh, are you tired? Did you stay up too late last night?” Janus nodded along to Patton’s words. He was starting to get nauseous from all the food. But he had to keep going. He was almost halfway done.

Logan spoke up from the high chair where he was sitting next to Remus, helping the younger side with his food. “Sleeping right after breakfast would be inadvisable. Rather, you should stay up and try for a mid-afternoon nap. You are more used to taking a nap then versus mid morning, so it would disrupt your sleep schedule the least, and studies have shown that going to bed directly after eating can disrupt digestion.”

And in only a few seconds all the self control he had managed to gather disappeared. “Nobody _asked_ you, Logan.” Janus said testily, immediately wishing he could take back his words. Darn it, he was trying! It was everyone else that kept on annoying him.

Logan seemed taken aback at first, but very quickly became distracted as Remus elbowed his sippy cup off the high chair. Instead, it was Virgil who turned towards Janus, looking right at him even as he curled away. “This is your second warning, Janus. Any more attitude and you’re gonna be in trouble. I know you’re tired, but Logan was just trying to help.”

“Yeah because I totally asked for and wanted it. It’s not like he butt into the conversation or anything.” All of Janus’s careful plans and schemes were out the window now. He was tired, he was irritated, nauseous, in pain, overstimulated, and above all just wanted to be left alone. Was that too much to ask?

Janus heard the scraping of wood against tile and jolted as his chair was yanked back and Janus found himself looking directly at an angry Virgil. “You apologize to Logan right now, Janus. That was not okay.”

Janus pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away. He wasn’t going to give in.

Virgil studied his face for a few more seconds before sighing, his expression unreadable. “Go to your room Janus. We’ll talk about things when you’ve calmed down enough to listen.”

Janus twisted around in his seat and marched out of the kitchen, head held high but fists clenched. He went back to his room as quickly as he could, resisting the urge to slam the door behind him. That would only make his headache worse.

Well, things hadn’t gone exactly the way he had wanted them to, but at least he was back in his bedroom. The events of the morning swirled around in his brain, making him angrier the more he thought about them. Why did everyone have to be so annoying!

But he hadn’t meant to be so mean to Logan. He didn’t really mean what he said. He had just wanted to sleep after breakfast. He had given Roman the cold shoulder, pushed at Virgil, and snapped at Patton, poor Patton, who just wanted to be nice, all because he couldn’t stop hiding. Because of a few lies to make himself more comfortable at others expense. At his own expense.

The thought of being completely honest and vulnerable with the others still scared him. Janus had never been one to lay himself out for the world to see. But things were different now. That didn’t mean he magically trusted them, or was going to be honest all the time. It had only been a couple of months since everyone had decided to suddenly become bff’s, and Janus found that old habits died hard. Still… He should probably tell them he was sick. He owed them that, at least.

Janus was starting to doze by the time that Virgil opened the door, holding in his hands the rest of Janus’s stomach-turning food. Carefully closing the door behind him, set the plate down on his desk and sat gingerly on the bed.

“You up for talking?” Virgil said softly, fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket. Janus sat up slowly and nodded. Just rip it off. Like a band aid.

“I know you’re tired,” Virgil began, voice getting firmer as he gained momentum. “But you were being mean to everyone who tried to talk to you. You snapped at me and Patton, ignored Roman, and were really rude to Logan, who just wanted to help.”

“Yeah.” Janus said, gaze still fixed on the bedspread. He just needed to open his mouth. Say the words. But now that Virgil was here, he had frozen. It was always so much easier to just stay quiet than to speak up.

“I talked with the others, and we decided against any big punishment, but you need to apologize to each of us personally.” Virgil continued. “And we want you to try and stay up until the afternoon. If you can’t, then we aren’t gonna force you to stay up, but Logan was right. It’s better if you don’t.”

Janus nodded in agreement. Maybe he didn’t have to say anything after all. He could just apologize to everyone and call it a day. Hang out on the couch and play with the others like he’d planned. Try to stay up, but if he ‘accidentally’ fell asleep, no one would question it. There still might be issues if he didn’t say anything. Maybe he didn’t have to though. Did he really have to?

First things first. Turning towards Virgil, Janus looked down at his fidgeting hands, forcing them to stay still. “I’m sorry for not listening to you.” Janus said, his voice a soft whisper. “You just wanted me to not lash out at everyone, and I did it anyways. I should have listened, and I’m sorry.”

After a moment of silence, Janus could feel Virgil move closer to him on the bed and slowly open up his arms. “Cuddles?” He asked, his head ducking to the side nervously.

And if that didn’t sound wonderful. Nodding, Janus opened his arms and let himself be pulled onto Virgil’s lap. The smell of lavender and coffee filled his nose as he buried his face in Virgil’s shoulder. The warmth of his body seeped through his jacket and the only thing Janus could hear was the sound of hushed breaths filling the air. Slowly, Virgil began to sway back and forth, and if Janus wasn’t careful, he could probably fall asleep right here, wrapped comfortably in his arms. 

“Thank you for apologizing, Janus.” Virgil said, voice rippling through the still air. “I know that you’re still getting used to being a kid around the others, and you weren’t at your best today. But…. Janus?” Janus started slightly, replying “Hm?” as Virgil continued to rock.

“So, you know I can get nervous about things, and I can overthink things that aren’t a big deal, or think something means something when it really doesn’t, but, are you sure you’re okay? You usually don’t get irritated like you did, and you’ve barely looked at anyone all day. And I know you’re tired, and it’s probably just that, but I- I just wanna be sure. You’re okay, right? You aren’t hiding things?”

Virgil had always been the best at seeing through Janus’s lies. But his fate wasn’t set in stone yet. All he had to do was say yes. Turn around and give him a reassuring smile, let out a soft laugh when Virgil smiled back in relief that it had just been him overthinking things like always. But Janus could feel the guilt curl up in his chest just thinking about it. He had told them he’d be more honest. He had promised. Like a band aid.

“I-” He started only to have the words stick in his throat. He could do it! Well. Maybe one little lie couldn’t hurt. “I _don’t_ feel like I might be a little sick.” He whispered, trying to get it all out in one quick breath.

Virgil shifted Janus around until he was suddenly staring right into his wide eyes. “You’re sick!?!” Janus winced at the volume, and Virgil reached up to put the back of his hand on Janus’s forehead, bringing the other hand up to run his fingers through Janus’s hair. “Where does it hurt? Do you have a fever? Do you know if you have a fever? Are you sore anywhere? Do you feel nauseous? Did you throw up?” 

“It’s not _that_ bad.” Janus whined, leaning back as Virgil fussed over him. He wasn’t dying or anything. Gosh. 

Virgil stared at him again, opening his mouth to say something before closing it and looking away. After a few moments had passed, Virgil looked up again, gently shifted Janus out of his lap, and grabbed his hand. “C’mon. We’re gonna have Logan take a look at you.”

Janus whined in protest, but allowed himself to be pulled out the door and, eventually, into the kitchen. Patton was the only one left, humming to himself as he put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. When that was done, he turned towards Janus and Virgil, smiling as he said “Hey kiddos! You guys sort things out?”

Another pang of guilt hit Janus as he remembered he still needed to apologize. Opening his mouth, he wasn’t even able to make a sound as Virgil promptly cut him off. “Have you seen Logan?” He said, scanning the kitchen intently.

“Oh, um, I think they’re just in the living room.” Patton said, blinking rapidly and pointing towards the room in question.

Virgil flushed slightly as he looked in the direction that Patton had pointed. “Thanks Pat.” He said, tugging Janus towards the living room. But Janus wasn’t ready to go yet. He dug his heels into the ground and yanked his hand out of Virgil’s.

Spinning around as quickly as he could without falling over, Janus blurted out “I’m sorry Patton. About breakfast- I didn’t mean anything; I was just lashing out. I’m sorry.”

Pattons expression melted from confusion to compassion, and he walked forward to wrap his arms around Janus in a warm embrace. “That’s alright, Jan. Just try not to do it again, okay?” Janus hummed in response and begrudgingly let Patton go as he pulled back.

Janus slowly turned back around and was relieved to see that Virgil didn’t look mad. Instead, he knelt down and held out his arms in a silent invitation. “C’mon.” Janus didn’t usually like being picked up when he was older, but today he found himself eagerly rushing over to Virgil and burying his face into Virgil’s jacket to try to fend off the dizzy rush that came with being lifted into the air too fast.

Virgil started walking again, but Janus kept his head right where he’d put it, instead focusing on the quick, long strides that gave his blissfully dark world rhythm and shape. He could hear Roman and Remus more clearly now, playing some type of game together as Virgil walked into the living room. Too soon, in Janus’s opinion, Virgil came to a halt next to what Janus thought was Logan’s armchair. He was probably reading some book.

“Hey Logan?” Virgil started, his hushed voice rumbling slightly in his chest. “Do you think you could look at Janus? He says he’s not feeling well.”

“Of course. May I?”

Janus resisted the urge to grumble as he was lifted out of Virgil’s embrace and onto Logan’s lap. With a flick of his wrist, a small white case with a red cross appeared in Logan’s hand, which Janus recognized as Logan’s medical kit.

The first thing Logan took out was a stethoscope, and with practiced efficiency he put it on and placed the cold metal up to Janus’s chest. “Can you take a deep breath in for me?” Logan said, looking softly in his eyes. Janus felt his irritation spike. Well obviously. But a gentle squeeze of Virgil’s hand brought him back to his senses. He’d messed up enough for today.

Speaking of which, as soon as Logan was done checking his heartbeat, Janus took in one last deep breath, closing his eyes as he did so. “Logan, I’m sorry about breakfast. I was just tired and when you said that I shouldn’t go to bed I got mad. I shouldn’t’ve said that stuff.”

A moment passed and then “Janus?” He looked out and found himself staring directly into Logan’s deep blue eyes. “Apology accepted. I know you did not mean anything that you said.”

With some coaxing and praise from Logan and with Virgil’s hand in Janus’s, he managed to get through the rest of the check up without getting irritated or lashing out (which, although he was loath to admit it, made Janus pretty proud of himself).

“Well, right now it is looking like a minor cold, but we should keep a close eye on him just the same.” Logan said, placing the last of his things back into the white case. “His temperature is no higher than average, but there is the possibility that he could develop a fever.”

“Awww, is my little kiddo sick? Is that what you guys are doing over here?” Patton had scooted across the floor from where he had begun playing with Remus and Roman, bringing a hand up to ruffle it gently through Janus’s hair.

Logan hummed. “Indeed. Would you be so kind as to retrieve some Tylenol and lozenges from the medicine cabinet?” Patton nodded and rushed out of the room, and only then did Janus notice Remus, who must’ve been crawling right behind Patton.

“Sick?” Remus said, pointing to Janus and looking back at Roman with a wide-eyed expression.

Roman walked over to where everyone was now and sat down beside Remus, legs criss-crossed together. “Mmm-hmm. He’s feeling _yucky_.”

“Yugy!” Remus copied, scrunching up his face and clapping his hands together. While Roman and Virgil cooed over Remus, Patton finally brought back the medicine.

Janus eyed it warily. It was probably _cherry_ flavored. The thought of it made him shiver. But he already knew he wasn’t getting out of this. Once that whole terribleness was over, he was finally allowed to squirm out of Logan’s lap and onto the floor.

While the others talked above him, Janus turned his attention to Roman, who was trying to show Remus how to play some form of patty cake.

“Hey Janus. How you holding up?” Roman said eventually as Remus became more interested in playing with Romans fingers than learning the game.

Janus shrugged. He was still tired, but he felt a bit better than before. The benefits of eating breakfast, he supposed.

“Sorry about earlier.” Janus said, looking up at Roman and Remus wearily.

Before he could continue his apology, Roman cut him off with a wave of his free hand. “Consider it water under the bridge. No hard feelings.”

“Janny sad?” Remus said, losing interest in Romans fingers as he looked over at Janus intensely.

“Just tired, Ree.” Janus said with a small smile. A smile which was then immediately wiped off his face as Remus opened his arms wide, leaned forward, and shouted “HUGS!”

Now, normally a hug would be fine. But there were two very important things that little Remus was forgetting. The first was that, at 6’3, he was significantly taller than Janus. The second was that at the angle Remus was coming from, he wasn’t going to hug Janus so much as fall on him.

He only had a second to brace himself before he was tackled onto the carpeted floor. More words flew overhead as lay dazed, head throbbing. He didn’t want to cry, but he could feel the tears already pricking at the edge of his vision. He faintly registered a weight being lifted off of him as arms wrapped around him, picking him up from the floor.

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Virgil said as he began to rock back and forth, rubbing circles into Janus’s back. “It’s okay, you can let it out. You can cry.”

That was all it took for him to begin sobbing quietly into his shoulder. He could hear the others soft words of comfort and even a faint “Sowy, sowy!” Shouted from the other side of the room. He could feel Virgil shift into motion as he walked out of the living room, through the kitchen and the hallway, then finally, into his own room.

Once inside, Vigil layed Janus gently on the bed, head on his pillow, pulling the blankets up over him.

“Virgil? What are you doing?” Janus questioned, trying not to rub his eyes. Wasn’t he not supposed to go to bed yet?

Virgil walked over to the dresser before pulling out a night light and plugging it into the wall. “Logan agreed that if you’re sick, you probably need all the sleep you can get. If you weren’t it would be better not to, but it’ll just be for today, so it shouldn’t matter.”

Oh. Well, all that drama for nothing then, Janus supposed. Virgil bent over and placed a quick kiss on Janus’s forehead, grabbed the now cold plate of food from the desk, then went to leave. Looking back, Virgil said “Goodnight Jan-Jan. Sweet dreams.”

“G’night Virgil.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on tumblr @dream-of-neverland. I'm not very active, but I do take requests!


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